Secutarii Axiarch
s armed with a Galvanic-Caster]] A Secutarii Axiarch is an officer of the Legiones Secutarii, the cybernetic foot-soldiers who serve the Titan Legions of the Collegia Titanica. They are the commanders in the field of the Secutarii Titan-Guard whose sacred mission it is to accompany the god-engines of the Adeptus Mechanicus onto the field of battle. The Axiarchs are capable leaders whose cranial datacores hold many complex stratagems with which they are able to smite their masters' foes. Role Axiarchs are the field commanders of the Legiones Secutarii and every larger force of Secutarii will be led by one of them. Like the troops they command, the Axiarchs are heavily augmented human warriors, vat-grown or selected from warrior-societies oathbound to the Adeptus Mechanicus and the Titan Legions. Most Axiarchs have risen through the ranks of the Secutarii and started their career as a mere Hoplite or Peltast and have been continuously promoted. Perhaps unsurprisingly for such an arcane order as the Adeptus Mechanicus, the selection of an Axiarch is both a matter of battlefield prowess and deep mystical belief, involving considerably more than merely rewarding meritorious service or recognising combat skill. To be considered for promotion to the rank of Axiarch, the Secutarii has to have proven his utter devotion to the Cult Mechanicus and its deity, the Machine God, as well as demonstrated complete dedication to the Secutarii's arts of war. He must also have served during a battlefield operation where a fallen Titan has successfully been recovered or defended from a close enemy assault, the most holy act a Secutarii can perform. This feat of arms is regarded as a test of valour for the Axiarch candidate. With the eyes of his masters now upon him, the candidate is checked for doctrinal purity and his faith measured through obscure rituals before his genetic and biological compatibility for the future cybernetic augmentation is tested. Before his first operation, the candidate will be checked once more by his Titan Legion's Logiseers who will conduct thorough binaric prognostications to establish if the auspices are favourable for his advancement. Only when all of these criteria have been met will the candidate be remade according the sacred patterns of the Machine Cult. A Secutarii Axiarch counts amongst the most heavily augmented beings in the Imperium of Mankind, his many Bionics replacing most of the remaining human flesh, even if he remains in possession of his Kyropatris Field Generator. Parts of an Axiarch's cerebellum will be replaced by surgically-implanted datacores which contain dedicated stores of tactical doctrine and historical data on the many forces his Titan Legion has faced in the past. Complementing the new Axiarch's own tactical and strategic experiences, these binaric strategems turn the Axiarch into a competent general who fights with the implacable fury of the followers of the Machine God. An Axiarch is capable of directly downloading his orders and plans to the Secutarii under his command through noospheric data links. Equipped with the very best weapons and armour at the disposal of the Adeptus Mechanicus, the Axiarch achieves an almost sacred communion with the Titans he is charged to protect through his most treasured and powerful augmentation: Titanshard Armour. As its name indicates, Titanshard Armour is reforged Secutarii warplate that incorporates the remains of one of the Titan Legion's glorious dead, quite literally allowing the Axiarch to become one with the lost God-engine. Titanshard Armour is a masterwork of the Titan Tech-priests' art and offers defence at least equal to that of the Power Armour of the Space Marines. More importantly, the Secutarii firmly believe that a portion of the Titan's near-indestructibility and bellicose Machine Spirit inhabits the armour, thus turning the Axiarch into a truly inhuman adversary. Wargear *'Arc Maul, Power Weapon (Any Type) or Corposant Stave' *'Radium Pistol or Volkite Serpenta' *'Kyropatris Field Generator' *'Refractor Field' *'Titanshard Armour' Optional Wargear *'Arc Pistol' *'Archaeotech Pistol' - One of the more common types of relics from Mankind's ancient might and arts that survived the stifling darkness of Old Night, these relics are sidearms of surpassing firepower and elegance. *'Photon Gauntlet' - A Photon Gauntlet is a personal form of Photon Thruster Weapon often used by Myrmidon Destructors and Thallax. The arcane secrets of these deadly beam weapons are closely guarded by the Tech-priests of the Mechanicum. When fired, it unleashes a howling needle-thin beam of blackness able to pierce through the densest matter and easily able to rip apart the most heavily armored men and machines. The power source of these weapons is extremely unstable and little understood even by the Myrmidons themselves, and a catastrophic failure can lead to its wielder being consumed by raging black flames. *'Power Fist' *'Omnispex' - An Omnispex is an Imperial scanning device that carries a Raptor-class Machine Spirit (artificial intelligence) that can read heat emissions, data signatures, and other biological electromagnetic waveform emissions even at extreme range. Should it be kept focussed for an extended period of time, an Omnispex will determine the weak points of those it scrutinises and pass them on to its master. *'Shattersphere Grenades' *'Augury Scanner' Sources *''The Horus Heresy - Book Seven: Inferno'' (Forge World Series) by Alan Bligh, pg. 289 *''The Horus Heresy - Book Two: Massacre'' (Forge World Series) by Alan Bligh, pg. 270 *''The Horus Heresy - Book Three: Extermination'' (Forge World Series) by Alan Bligh, pg. 218 Category:S Category:Adeptus Mechanicus Category:Skitarii Category:Imperium Category:Collegia Titanica Category:Titles